February 2013

February 24, 2013

No playing with the drum carder this weekend. I couldn't wait to start spinning the roving I dyed last week. It's turning out more blue and green than I expected. Not much of the purple is showing, at least so far.

I wanted to start a pair of socks from the spindle-spun yarn that won me Best of Show at the Michigan Fiber Festival last year. Unfortuately, I CAN'T FIND IT!! I've looked for it everywhere I can think of and have come up empty. I'm getting the urge to knit again. The last two shawls I've attempted I've screwed up within the first few rows so I'm turning back to socks. Socks have never let me down. Now if only I can find that yarn...

February 21, 2013

Apparently, I'm in a dyeing mood. I haven't brought the drum carder upstairs yet but I've been playing with color combinations. I started with this one:

And moved on to this one:

I liked the first combo so much I decided to dye up some Merino/bamboo roving to spin for socks:

The plan with the scattered drops of dye is to create a yarn similar to this one that started out as this roving, dyed several years ago:

The idea was to dye roving that would spin into a yarn with white in it and not just solid color. Again, it was inspired by The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. Now I just have to find the time to do the spinning, after the other spinning projects I'm currently in the middle of.

It's winter here and, as per usual, I'm craving color, which is probably what inspired all the dyeing I've been doing. I'm not terribly thrilled with how tonight's roving turned out but I've learned over time that the ugliest roving more often than not makes the most beautiful yarn. I'm excited to see the finished yarn.

This weekend is mostly free of plans. There are a few things I might do, like see a movie, but other than a very necessary haircut, Saturday is free of plans. I'll probably have lunch or dinner with friends although that isn't certain as yet. I might run a few errands. I'll definitely work on the purple batts I made months ago and have been trying to spin up ever since. I love free weekends!

February 19, 2013

Lately, I've been feeling the need to play with my drum carder. That means dyeing up wool/roving to make batts. So I brought out my dyes, some quart jars and 1-ounce lengths of rovng and started dyeing. I used both Superwash Merino and Merino/bamboo roving which gave me varying depths of color. The Superwash took dye beautifully and the Merino/bamboo took less.

These I dyed Sunday evening. Again, when they were dry, I found Galen sleeping in the middle like his own personal wool-lined hammock.

These I dyed tonight. I'm pretty sure the colors are sky blue, sangria, avocado and left-over dye from the tourquoise roving I dyed Sunday. The dye bath didn't exhaust and I didn't want to waste it. That and I don't like pouring dye down the drain if I can avoid it. Once I clear off my coffee table (I like to play with the drum carder in front of the TV), I'll bring the carder up and the fun can begin.

February 17, 2013

The fiber is Bowmont Braf which is a new, rare breed that is 3/4 Merino and 1/4 Shetland. The breed was created in Britain. I managed to score an ounce of fiber. The fiber itself is lovely now that it's scoured but whoever did the shearing did a lousy job. It was full of second cuts making an already short fiber (1.5 to 2.5 inches) even shorter and worthless. I paid more than I'm willing to say for that ounce and to have so much ruined by second cuts really chaps my hide. I'm not happy with the staple length as it is. I'd tell you who I bought the fiber from so you can avoid it but that would mean you could find out the ridiculous price I paid and my pride won't let me do that. This is probably the only fiber from this breed I'll ever get my hands on so I need to make this little bit count: a lock and spun yarn in my breed book and a knitted swatch.

February 05, 2013

There is a guy who comes to Sanibel the same week every year and practices his castle building. I've heard the rumor that he's perfecting his technique to become a champion sandcastle builder. I've never actually met him so I can't say for certain. Every year, his castles become better and more elaborate.

Even the back is beautiful!

I've been asked to post pictures of the bathroom with its new paint job. It seems rather boring to me but here they are. These will be the last pictures until the bathroom is completed and decorated.

Painting is all abou the prep work. Most of the time "painting" is spent spackling holes, sanding, sweeping, vaccuming, washing the walls, taping off the parts you don't want painted, and putting up/down plastic so you don't get paint all over the place. The actual painting only took me maybe half an hour or so. I have a few spots that need touching up but for the most part, the painting is done. I think I did a pretty good job.

February 03, 2013

As usual, Sanibel Island was beautiful, sunny and warm. My two sisters and I and my parents had a great time together. We visited several beaches, talked, laughed, collected shells and made some shell mirrors. One of my sisters and my nephew got me addicted to the game Plants vs. Zombies and I played it far too much. If you have a tablet or an iPad, try it. The game is a blast.

On Wednesday, we took a ferry to the island Cayo Costa. It's a pretty isolated island and we went for the shelling.

The view was pretty nice, too. I was hunting for Baby Ears. I've only ever found them on Cayo Costa.

That trip wiped me out. Between the sun, the wind and all the fresh air, I was exhausted by the time we got back. I slept nine and a half hours that night. I was tired but the adventure and the shells were worth it.

When I wasn't shelling, I was working on a couple of shell mirrors. Some of the shells I found on the beach, some I bought, some were given to me and some were left-over shells from last year. It takes more shells to cover a mirror than you might think. (I borrowed my mom's hot glue gun to affix the shells to the frame.)

First, I sprayed the frame white. The mirror needs to be cleaned yet; some of the paint got under the paper I used to cover the mirror.

I decided to use last year's mirror and this year's mirrors to decorate my "new" bathroom. Objects work better in odd numbers which meant I needed to make another mirror:

This time I didn't paint the frame white. I wanted it to disappear in the background. The round mirror is only 7 or 8 inches in diameter. It's a cute little thing.

Speaking of bathrooms, this is what greeted me when I got home last night:

A completed shower surround...

and a tiled floor. It's now my job to paint the bathroom. I picked up the paint today. Now I need to prep the walls: fill any holes, sand down any high points, take down the towel rods, vacuum the bathroom and wipe down the walls, and finally tape off the edges and cover all the nice new tiling and the new toilet to protect them from any wayward drops of paint.

I'm both happy to be home (I really missed my babies) and sad that Florida has now been replaced with cold, clouds and snow. It was great to spend time with my sisters and parents. We laughed a lot and had a great time. I really love my family a lot. No one gets you like your family does. You share the same sense of humor and know the same stories. I really miss them now that I'm home. I can't wait until next year.